The Singapore government has released a new roadmap to enhance child and parent health in the country as part of the Singaporean government’s new action plan for the nation’s children and parents. This came at the backdrop of the nation’s on-going drive to ensure young people and their families embrace healthy lifestyle.

Lastly, The action plan, which consist of 48 action steps, covers a wide range of child and family health concerns including: prenatal and early childhood car, school readiness, chronic diseases, adolescent health, and mental health. This has been designed with the involvement of healthcare workers, educators and child development specialists with the aim of supporting the improvement of life of Singapore families in every aspect.

It will also be proper to explain that the action plan has one of its focus areas to address the issues related to early childhood development. The government has proposed the development of quality early childhood education as such programs are important in the child’s learning, emotional, and social development. It will also involve providing enhanced parental care through parenting education forums, counseling as well as information as well as material assistance to parents in managing their responsibilities in the present society.

The other focus that forms part of the action plan is ensuring that children and adolescents get mental health support when the need arises. Given the growing concern of stress, anxiety and depression among the youths, the government is demonstrating its commitment to creating awareness on the need for mental health services in schools; and recruiting more counselors and mental health care professionals in learning institutions. It also entails measures that are necessary to ensure that the population adopt healthy lifestyles because of the various problems associate with the use of the social media.

Another is prevention of deteriorating physical health and malnutrition which is also in the action plan. The government has been planning to impose very tight policies targeting school meals and at the same time tighten up the policy on physical activities in schools. There should also be home based activities aimed at making families to undergo certain modifications like engaging in more exercises and taking more balanced diets.

Measures for work life balance and family friendly policies are also incorporated in the action plan for working parents. This includes employment incentives for organizations that implement work options such as telecommuting and additional options for parents on leave. That is why the government believes these measures will ease the pressure on working parents and produce more quality time for child bonding.

The second key recommendation of the action plan relates to the promotion of support to families with dependent children, including those with disabilities or serious health problems. Funding for early intervention services for children, specialized medical care, and parents with such children will also be rising. The concern is, thus, to guarantee each child’s chance of success irrespective of the child’s characteristic or health conditions.

It is also noted the proposed action plan provides for the support of communities as the critical factor for child and family health. It ranges from measures designed to enhance the role of communities and increase the availability of ‘public space’ facilities friendly to families. The thinking behind this is that it is pivotal for the community to foster a healthy and sustainable environment that children could grow up in and for the family to be in a good state.

To support its implementation, the government has promised to periodically assess the performance of the various initiatives laid out in the action plan. This will with require data on number of health and wellbeing aspects and which may require modification of the plan as required.

The release of this ambitious strategic map shows that Singapore cares for its future generation and their families by investing in their health. Thus, having an impact on different sides of children’s physical and mental development, on their social and environment surroundings the government tries to form a child-friendly country.

Within Singapore, as the country still has to wrestle with numerous other issues including increased rate of aging population coupled by higher health costs, childcare and better health of families is considered one of the ways of attaining sustainable society for future. The implementation of this particular action plan may be beneficial for many other countries striving to uplift the well-being of the youth.